Dog walker Sarah Skidmore prepares to throw a ball for her dogs at Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept 6, 2013. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is expected to release a supplemental report on dog walking that may be more lenient.

Dog walker Sarah Skidmore prepares to throw a ball for her dogs at Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept 6, 2013. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is expected to release a

Seth Green throws a ball at Crissy Field, among the areas where dog owners and park managers are wrangling over restrictions.

Seth Green throws a ball at Crissy Field, among the areas where dog owners and park managers are wrangling over restrictions.

Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle

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Janet Bran, (left) and Sara Skidmore with their dogs along Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday Sept. 6, 2013. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is expected to release a supplemental report on dog walking which may be more lenient. less

Janet Bran, (left) and Sara Skidmore with their dogs along Crissy Field Beach in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday Sept. 6, 2013. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is expected to release a supplemental ... more

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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Golden Gate National Recreation Area managers received more than 4,700 comments on a 2011 dog management draft.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area managers received more than 4,700 comments on a 2011 dog management draft.

Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle

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GGNRA managers unleash dog-walking rules

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The decades-old imbroglio over dog walking on Bay Area parkland cropped up again Friday when the National Park Service loosened some proposed restrictions and tightened others for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, prompting a new round of grumbling and growling.

The preferred alternative in the latest revision of the federal dog management plan would add more leashed areas to the GGNRA and let dogs run free in new areas of Fort Funston and Fort Mason. But it maintains most provisions of the original plan, which outraged canine advocates.

"It's far more restrictive than we ever would have imagined," said Martha Walters, the chairwoman of the Crissy Field Dog Group, echoing the reaction of other dog walking groups. "We feel very betrayed by the Park Service, especially after all these years working with them in a cooperative manner. There is no scientific basis for this radical change."

The new document is an attempt by National Park Service officials to address some of the 4,713 comments that flooded in after the first 2,400-page edition of the plan was issued in 2011. The tome, which outweighs many of the pooches that frequent the park, proposed banning man's best friend in many areas where he now runs free.

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Recreation area officials said the changes are needed because of a dramatic increase in the number of visitors and, as a result, conflicts over the past two decades. Some naturalists and bird-watchers have also complained about dogs trampling vegetation, frightening birds and harassing wildlife.

6 alternatives surveyed

There are several changes in the new document, which analyzes six alternatives for dog walking in 21 locations within the boundaries of the recreation area, which manages 18,000 acres of parkland and has within its boundary 80,000 acres of land in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties.

As they were in the 2011 plan, canines would still be prohibited on East Beach, currently the most popular off-leash area at Crissy Field, according to the preferred alternative. Instead, unfettered canines would be allowed on the middle portion of the beach and on the east side of the grassy former air field.

Ocean Beach would still be off limits to free-roaming four-leggers everywhere except north of Stairwell 21, which is closest to the Cliff House.

The preferred alternative adds some off-leash acreage on a grassy area near Bay and Laguna streets, at Fort Mason and at Fort Funston near Battery Davis, allowing dog walkers access to the beach from upland areas.

Off-leash areas

"It's a substantial increase in the amount available for off-leash voice control use and connectability to the beach," said Howard Levitt, the park's director of communications and partnerships. "The trails themselves are on leash, but the off-leash areas are substantial, including flat open areas that are commonly used right now."

Man's furry friends would also be allowed on Muir Beach in Marin County, albeit only if they are leashed according to the new plan. The original plan proposed a complete dog ban at Muir, historically one of the most dog friendly locations in the Bay Area.

Restrictions would be increased in another popular dog walking area in Marin, Oakwood Valley, where the fire road proposed in 2011 for off-leash walking would be changed to on-leash only, according to Levitt. Rodeo Beach, where dogs could go free under voice control, would, in fact, be the only one of six Marin County locations in the national recreation area where the current practice of allowing dogs to run off-leash would still be allowed.

The GGNRA's new park, Rancho Corral de Tierra in San Mateo County, would allow leashed dogs only on trails next to the communities of El Granada and Montara. The 3,939-acre area near Moss Beach has been used for decades by people exercising their dogs off leash, according to local canine fanciers.

Rex would also be allowed on a trail up to Sweeney Ridge, above Pacifica, as long as he is tethered to his owner, according to the plan.

Civil disobedience

Dog lovers expected a better deal after the park decided to issue a supplemental report. Previous efforts to put the clamps on canines led to protests, civil disobedience and court challenges by dog owners. But Walters said advocacy groups have been working with park officials over the past two years, even setting up classes to teach owners voice control and other training techniques.

The park's 1979 Pet Policy specifically allowed people to romp with their furry friends under voice control on what were then primarily empty stretches of federal land. Dog owners, especially elderly folks, insist they cannot adequately exercise their pets on a leash.

"People have been walking their dogs off leash on Crissy Field, Baker Beach, Muir Beach and many of these other coastal areas with no problems for generations," Walters said. "Can you imagine taking your dog to the beach and keeping him on a leash? It doesn't make any practical sense."

The Bay Area's canine-loving community, including some San Francisco politicians, claims the GGNRA restrictions would force dog owners to use city and county parks and other open-space areas that would become overwhelmed.

"There would likely be some kind of redistribution of dog walkers, and if so, it would have some effects on neighboring locations," Levitt said, summarizing the supplemental report's analysis. "But there is no way to address something that is so speculative."

A 90 day public comment period began Friday and will end Dec. 4. The final plan is expected in late 2015.